


The Sweetest Girl

by shortstakk79



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-11
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-04-03 21:55:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4116231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shortstakk79/pseuds/shortstakk79
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek goes back home for a Christmas gathering and runs into a girl he used to know back during high school.  As usual most of the CM characters should receive a little face time in this story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually a little something that popped into my head at like 3 AM. Was listening to Pandora actually….and the Wyclef Jean song ‘Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)’ was on, as well as T.I.’s ‘Dead & Gone’…and *POOF*. As usual, I own nothing CM related…just borrowing.

Winter in Chicago was insane. Being the ‘Windy City’ was bad enough on a normal day; but then you dump an ass load of snow on everything and drop the temperature down around 15 degrees for the daily high….just no. 

Derek was back for Christmas. It seemed as though he’d gotten his travelling in at just the right time; the day after he left Quantico, flights were getting grounded because of inclement weather. He had told his mom that he was going for a walk around town. He’d likely stop by the Barfield house and check on James and his family. He would stop by the youth center and see how everyone was doing there….just in general hitting a few old stomping grounds. 

As he walked down the street in front of his old high school, he looked across the street at the park where he and some of the neighborhood kids used to play or hang out. The old play-ground equipment from the late 70’s and early 80’s had of course been replaced; but the park itself was basically the same, they even still had that same old oak tree with the picnic table and grill close by where his family would set up for family cookouts when he was a kid, back before his dad died. Matter of fact, if Derek squinted just right he could almost see his dad out there with his grilling tools and that silly apron he always wore that Fran had gotten for his birthday years ago. 

As he looked over ‘his’ park he saw a scantily dressed young woman arguing with a much larger man; Derek rolled his eyes for just a second. Hookers had taken to using this park in the off season to pick up men; this was likely just a dispute between one of the girls and her pimp. 

She had to be freezing; her dress was short, tight, and red. The only thing that she had on that might give her any warmth at all was some raggedy black coat; it was long, hanging almost to her ankles, but it wasn’t styled for this weather…it was more like something you would wear during the spring or fall, not in the dead of winter. 

Morgan was going to let it go and not even stick his nose into it until he saw the man back hand the woman, sending her stumbling a bit, and eventually falling onto her hands and knees in the snow. At that Derek couldn’t stand it anymore; that man was no less than 6’4. That little woman had to be an entire foot shorter than the man; she had to crane her neck to have any chance to look him in the eyes at all. From the distance that Morgan had originally been watching from he could tell that the woman was barely tall enough for her head to rise above the man’s elbow. She still hadn’t gotten back on her feet; she must have been sort of stunned a bit. 

Running quickly over before the man was able to get very far away, Derek just jumped on him and threw a few hard punches; he landed one to the man’s left eye…knowing that when it was said and done the eye was going to swell shut, it would be days before the man was able to see out of it again.

“If you wanted your turn at her all you had to do was say so. Because I like your audacity, I’ll let you have her at half the going rate….” That was all the son of a bitch was able to say. Derek picked him up off of the ground and threw him towards the street, threatening him to go to hell. Without a second thought to the guy or where he had gone, Derek turned to help the woman stand.

“Ma’am are you alright?” 

Dusting some of the snow off of her clothes as much as she could, she began mumbling that she was just fine. But Derek could hear her teeth chattering as she spoke. 

Taking her hand and realizing she must have been nearly frozen to the bone, ‘Come on, let me at least buy you a coffee.”

“Fine.” The woman shook her head, resigned that she wasn’t going to be able to get out of this. “Can we at least go to the coffee shop on 12th? It’s farther away from…” she suddenly looked up at the man who had helped her and her voice stopped, she seemed to forget the rest of her sentence.

“Jasmine?” Derek couldn’t believe his eyes. From the distance he had been at previously he hadn’t been able to recognize the woman; but now he was able to see her clearly. He had gone to school with this girl. He had been two years ahead of her, but he knew of her. She had always had a long mane of thick brown hair that seemed to hang in large curls; large brown eyes, the most expressive that he’d ever seen, and alabaster skin with rosy pink lips. She had damn near glowed back then.

But she was from the rough side of the tracks, even for his neighborhood. Her mom was hook on whatever drugs she could get her hands on, her step-father…well you could find him quite easily by hunting through the sex-offender registry. Kids at school gave her hell. Derek never went out of his way to pick on her; but somehow, right now, he felt like he had treated her worse yet. He had been indifferent towards her…he had never lifted a finger to do anything nice for her. Maybe he never picked on her, but he sure never helped her either. He had that momentary thought of how would her life had changed if just one person in all those years had done one nice thing for her. If anybody in that school had bothered to help her up when she got pushed down the stairs…or had ever stopped to tell her that she had pretty eyes or that she was attractive at all when she had someone throwing mud at her and picking on her for her ratty clothes. Would she still be in this cold ass park, trying to stand up in two feet of snow dressed in this ridiculous outfit freezing to death? Or would she have been able to find some other way in this world? 

“It’s farther away from what?”

“Actually, I have to go. I have appointments…..” she began to try to scoot away. Derek merely closed his hand around her wrist tighter. 

She looked back at him as though she expected him to turn on her, too.

“Come on, it’s just coffee. How bad can it be?” He didn’t miss the fact that she was looking in the general direction that the other man had gone in as if she was worried he’d jump out of the wood work and come after her again. “Look, as long as you’re with me, you don’t have to worry about him.”

“That’s awesome. But eventually you will go home, and it will be a Tuesday. What then?” 

“Well at least you can get warm for a little bit and thaw out.” 

“Alright….”

“At the place on 12th like you said though.” 

While they were at the coffee shop, Derek actually ordered them a couple of sandwiches to nibble on while they sat and had their coffees, he was trying to give her as much time to relax and get warm as possible. She looked like life had kicked the shit out of her. When she started coughing, he could hear a rattling in her chest and became concerned. They had done so much talking about him…she kept asking him a ton of questions and wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. So he had spent the better part of an hour just answering all of her questions….then he heard her coughing.

“Are you alright Jasmine?” 

“Yeah…” She saw the way he was looking at her, and decided to tell the truth. “I’m not well.” 

He took her hand in his, it was so small; her fingers were about half the size of his…and they were still slightly cold to the touch. 

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s just a little bronchitis….maybe a touch of pneumonia….I’m not sure.”

“You haven’t been to the doctor?”

“Yeah, ‘cause Johnny gives a shit.” She kept checking her phone.

“What are you waiting for?” 

“I was checking to see if the girl I have watching my baby was going to call me anytime soon. I owe her a little money.” 

“Boy or girl?” 

Jasmine smiled, ‘Boy. I named him Michael. I’m only moderately sure of who his father is, so I didn’t have to worry about naming him after whoever that is. He’s cute as hell though. He’s never sad; he giggles and is happy from the time he wakes up until he has to go to bed. I always dream about having the money to get him away from this life, so he doesn’t have to grow up like Johnny or even me. But we all have dreams right….You wanna see a picture of him, hang on.” Jasmine grabbed her phone again and thumbed through the pictures she had stored on it, looking for a good one of the little boy. “Ooh! Here….”

She shoved her phone over to Derek. Michael was an adorable little boy; big blue eyes and dark hair…dimples. In the picture he was sitting on Jasmine’s lap, grabbing for his little sock feet…it looked like he was laughing as hard as he could when the picture was taken. 

“How old is he?” 

“Six months…”

“Whatever happened Jasmine?”

“What do you mean?”

“After school…what happened?”

“Momma died of an overdose when I was about 19, I think. That wasn’t too much of a loss. I mean, a part of me will always love her. She was the woman that brought me into this world. But that was about where her mothering instinct stopped. Even when she was home, she was never actually ‘there’, she was always high as a kite, tweaking, whatever. She didn’t have time to care about me. And Bruce…he got thrown in the slammer a few times over the years for the usual offenses. He never does much time; with a wink and a smile he’s out in a few months…if you’re lucky, he stays behind bars for a couple years….but as far as Bruce goes, there’s a revolving door on the jail and there’s no lock. He’s a slippery bastard for sure.”

“How did you wind up doing this?”

“What did you expect Morgan? I’d become a doctor or a ballerina like all of the other girls? Hardly. There’s only so many times life can beat you down before you stop getting back up. There was a time in my life I had thought about wanting more. But there was always someone there with a friendly shove….I was just lucky to make it out of high school with all of my teeth and ribs intact.   
When we got out of school, I tried cleaning up my act. I got a little dinky job; it was enough to keep me fed. Then Johnny crossed my path. We went out on a few dates, he seemed nice. Then, somehow….it morphed into him trading me to his friends for money or whatever he wanted; it snowballed from there. Now I can’t get away from him. I’ve tried reaching out for help before. Nobody cares. I’m just another sad story…a statistic. I’m just a prostitute and people in your world don’t care about people in my world unless we’re part of a case file.” 

“You could come back home with me, to Quantico….”

“No, it wouldn’t do any good. Johnny would follow me.”

“We can get him arrested….”

“Look I have to go. If I don’t go pretty soon….it’ll get worse if I don’t go back out there.”

“Come on, at least think about it.”

“Why are you so concerned by what happens to me?”

“Because, I never did a damned thing to help you back then…somehow that’s worse than if I had been one of the ones to pick on you.”

“You helped me today. That’s enough. It shows that you have changed and that there’s hope for the rest. Now really, I have to go.”

“Look, at least take my card. If you find yourself in trouble, you can call me and I will do what I have to do to help you.”

“Alright.’ She looked down and smiled as she filed the card away in her bag. “Thanks for the lunch Derek, you’re one of the good people.” She stood and walked over to him. Leaning over she kissed him on the forehead, just above his brow line, and rubbed her hand over his bald head…

“For good luck,’ she joked as she walked out of the door to the coffee shop and back out into the cold Chicago winter. 

Derek was left there contemplating all the things that she had said, all the things he had learned. She seemed so sad when she left, like she didn’t really want to go. The walk back to his mother’s house was somber for him. When he got in the door, Fran Morgan could tell that something was weighing on her son’s mind heavily. After some slight prodding on her part, Derek told her the entire story of bumping into the sweetest girl he’d ever known.


	2. The Sweetest Girl: Chapter 2

(She used to be the sweetest girl ever, ever  
Now she like sour amaretto  
She wears a dress to the T like the letter  
And if you make it rain she will be under the weather  
She used to run track back in high school  
Now she tricks on the track right by school  
She takes a loss cos she don't wanna see her child lose  
So respect her, or pay up for the time used  
And then she runs to the pastor  
And he tells her there will be a new chapter  
But she feels no different after  
And then she asks him... where my money at?)

(Sweetest Girl ‘Dollar Bill’, Wyclef)

Jasmine stepped off of the bus, looking around the terminal; she had enough money to get dinner and a taxi ride to the address on the card in her bag…she thought. She wasn’t sure what the mileage rates were on a taxi around here. She clutched the baby carrier tightly, bringing it up closer to her so she could check on her son quickly; he was still sleeping. Michael did that a lot; almost as soon as he got into a car or anything going for a ride, he instantly fell asleep. She walked into the terminal and asked an attendant where was a good place to get something decent to eat; the woman told her about a little café just up the road, within walking distance. With a kind smile from the woman that was doting on little Michael, Jasmine made her way back out to the sidewalk and began to make her way to the mentioned café.   
Jasmine had been surprised when she started putting together her plan to escape Johnny and Chicago altogether. She had been stashing money back, a few dollars at a time, hiding it in some of Michael’s things…his diaper bag…she kept a small bag of money taped under the bottom of the diaper pail (that never got moved, so it never got looked under…once the bag started getting too much in it, she would take it out and hide some of it in the diaper bag with the other money). It was never much, just a few dollars. And then when she would hang out with Micah, her friend that would take care of Michael when she was working surprised her.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
****Flashback

Micah had been socking back some of the money that Jasmine had been paying her for her babysitting services; some of the money that she hadn’t saved, she had used to go shopping to buy Jasmine two new outfits. The day that Jasmine came to her to tell her that it was the day she would be leaving, Micah walked to the closet and pulled out a small travel bag. She set it on the kitchen table and opened it; it had the two new outfits for Jasmine, and a few spare diapers for Michael as well as some little snacks for him. And if that wasn’t enough, next Micah walked over to the kitchen counter and opened up what should have been a flour container. She pulled out a bag of money that she had hidden in there just for Jasmine; there was $300 there. 

Jasmine started crying. She never expected this, and it was hard to believe that anyone wanted to help her. 

“Don’t cry girlfriend; why do you think I was always on you about paying me on time? I was trying to make sure I had enough in case this day ever came. Go take a shower and change into one of the new outfits….I wanna see at least one of them on you before you go. I’ll feed lil man here, and we’ll watch some cartoons til you’re ready to go.”

All Jasmine could do was nod and take a stack of some clothes with her. 

It had been so long since she had a relaxing hot shower and not have to worry about what would happen with Johnny. He knew she was with Micah, they were supposed to be going to the grocery store and running a few other errands while they were out, so he didn’t expect her home anytime soon. She washed her hair with Micah’s coconut shampoo and conditioner. Fifteen minutes later, Jasmine was squeaky clean and smelled like a day at the beach….she felt happier already. She dried off carefully and put on some lightly scented lotion that Micah was letting her borrow and just didn’t know it. Then she turned to her new clothes. 

A new underwear set, that had polka-dots of all colors with a white background; the underwear was boy-cut, and the bra had her puppies standing at attention. 

‘Nice.’

And there was a pair of dark wash jeans that flared a bit around the ankles, boot-cuts, it seemed. The blouse was slightly larger than Jasmine needed, but it was comfortable, and it was a lovely shade of green. And a tank top to go under it. Micah had pitched in a few dollars of her own money and got a cute pair of black boots for Jasmine to wear. 

With her new gear she would look like a normal woman and not a prostitute. Would she even know how to behave as a normal person in society?

****End Flashback  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Jasmine entered the diner and went to the counter to make her order; a hot pastrami on Rye bread, French fries, a sweet tea. Micah had gotten her turned on to sweet tea; she had it before, but usually preferred drinking water. Sweet tea was Micah’s water. Jasmine chuckled quietly to herself as she thought of her friend. According to Micah, on the sixth day God created sweet tea….then on the seventh he sat back and had a glass. 

Jasmine picked a corner booth. She sat the baby carrier down first, scooting it far enough into the booth so she’d have room to sit next to it. Next, Jasmine picked Michael up out of the carrier, seeing as he had finally decided to wake up, although quite begrudgingly; the only thing that ever woke the baby up after dozing that much was the smell of food. Jasmine laughed a little as she saw Michael’s face light up when he spotted her French fries. 

“Just a few you little mooch. Junk food isn’t good for babies; it’s not even that good for adults.” Jasmine got the little man situated on her lap just in time for him to reach for a chubby fist full of mashed French fries, letting out a baby giggle as he did so, kicking his legs in excitement the whole time, his dimples showing themselves as usual. 

As she ate from her sandwich, Jasmine also managed to get little Michael to eat a few bites of lettuce to wash down his fries with, as well as a few nibbles of the deli meat from the sandwich. Grabbing her glass of tea she sucked some of the drink into the straw, capping it with her index finger, trapping the tea in the straw…with that done she gave the other end of the straw to Michael so he could try some of the tea. 

After he drank from his mother’s straw, he bounced and burbled that much more.

“It’s good, huh. Seems like we will have to keep this place in mind and come back sometime.” The next thing Jasmine knew was Michael had dropped a fist full of mangled fries onto the table and began trying to reach for her glass. 

“Fabulous, I’ve created a monster. Baby, it’s time you had a bottle…too much sugar like this isn’t good for your little tummy.”

Like any child his size, Michael began to grumble a little at not being allowed more of the tea. 

“None of that now, I have a bottle of some orange juice for you….and some of your favorite little snacks. Here ya go.” 

She settled her little man back into his carrier and gave him his bottle which he took from her with gusto….Michael sure loved his juice. He was being silly and trying to hold the bottle with his feet as he reached out for Jasmine’s hair as she leaned over to make goo-goo noises at him, causing her to laugh as much as he was. After giving him a few bits of his snack, waiting until he started turning his nose up at them to signal he was finished, Jasmine packed up the little bit of gear she had with her and made her way out to another shelter that was along the bus route. They had come as far as D.C; but she had one more bus to take to get into Quantico. 

Jasmine placed Michael’s little carrier between her feet where she could rock it while she waited and relax as she contemplated her next move. What was she supposed to do? Could she really just walk up to the FBI headquarters and ask to speak with Derek? Would he still be willing to help her? She’d felt a sort of weariness all day. She had started her morning off by looking over her shoulder after Micah dropped her off at the first bus terminal….after Micah left, she got this sick feeling in her stomach like trouble wasn’t far away. 

As she sat deep in thought, concentrating so hard on what she would do now that she had made it this far, Jasmine never saw the gun sticking out of the window of the SUV across the street….she didn’t have time to figure out what that loud popping noise was before she heard Michael screaming. 

It wasn’t until she looked down to see why her baby was crying and screaming like his life depended on it that she saw all the blood that was soaking the white tank top she had on. She stood to try to pick up the carrier her son was in and try to get help, but before she could she collapsed. Everything had started going dark.


	3. The Sweetest Girl: Chapter 3

Derek Morgan was on the FBI’s jet with the rest of the team coming back from one horrible case from Oregon….some guy was killing women and their babies…sometimes the children were as old as three, but usually they were still infants. It took them nearly two weeks to catch the maniac. Everyone was tired of Oregon for a while so they had finished whatever paperwork had awaited them at the local PD, and then headed for the plane. Nobody wanted to stay the night bad enough.   
Morgan had no more than just shut his eyes, his headphones on listening to a mix on his ipod that Garcia had made up for him, when his phone vibrated; he had set it to vibrate so if it did ring the sound wouldn’t disturb anyone else that might be asleep. Morgan grabbed the phone from clip on his belt, fully expecting the vibration to have been caused by a text from Pen. When he checked the ID on the screen the number calling wasn’t familiar to him, although he knew it was a number local to Quantico.

“Derek Morgan,’ he answered carefully.

“Is this Agent Derek Morgan?’ a lady’s voice asked nervously.

“Yes ma’am. Who am I speaking to?”

“I am Nurse Watkins from Potomac General Hospital. About an hour ago a young woman was brought in as a gunshot victim. She had a business card with your name on it. We looked for any other emergency numbers that she might have had in her bag, but we couldn’t find anything….Yours was the only number she had with her.”

“Did she come in with a small child?”

“Yes sir, as a matter of fact she did. The baby is being cared for in the pediatric department as w…”

“What was the girl’s name?”

“Jasmine Stewart….”

“One moment, ma’am.’ Derek raced over to where Hotch was lounging, shaking him to wake him up.

“What is it Morgan?” Hotch asked tiredly.

“How soon before we land?” Hotch began to notice the slight notes of worry in Derek’s demeanor. 

“Is Garcia alright?” 

“Why wouldn’t she be? Yes she’s fine. Hotch. How long?”

“Maybe three more hours. Why?”

Without even answering Hotch, Derek turned back to his phone where he had kept the nurse waiting.

“Ma’am, I am currently several thousands of feet in the air on our plane. I won’t be landing for approximately three more hours. What can you tell me about Jasmine’s condition currently?”

“I shouldn’t really; we’re trying to find next of kin….”

“Ma’am, she has no next of kin. Her mother died years ago. And she never knew who her biological father was. The only family she has left is that baby that came with her. Now, what is going on?”

“Well since she had your card with her…..alright. All I know for sure is that she was brought in about an hour ago. She had a gunshot to the abdominal region; there was a lot of blood. The baby was screaming, but   
it seemed as though he was physically unharmed. Currently the young lady is in surgery to remove the bullet and stop the bleeding. I’m not sure how long the surgery will take; I suppose it will have a lot to do with how severe her injury was and how well the doctor can repair the damage.” 

“And you said the baby was physically unharmed?”

“Yes sir. I think he was just in some shock, I’m sure he was. We don’t happen to know the baby’s name however. When your friend was brought in, she was already unconscious.”

“His name is Michael; that’s all I know for sure….I don’t know his middle name if he has one. How is he now?”

“The last time I checked on him, he had calmed considerably. He was still a little frantic, but that doesn’t surprise me. He’s been fed, and changed…so his tummy is full and he’s got some clean clothes. But he doesn’t have anyone he knows to care for him in the absence of his mother….the pediatric nurses are doing their best, but it’s not the same.”  
Derek could only nod in agreement with that statement although, he knew the nurse couldn’t see that. 

“Ma’am, I will be back into town just as soon as we set this plane on the ground. I want someone to keep me posted if anything changes before then. In the meantime, I am going to arrange for one of my colleagues to go meet with you there at the hospital. Whatever information that you would share with me is safe to share with her.”

“Yes sir, of course. And, please be safe.”

Derek disconnected the call and then he called Penelope.

“My love? I thought that my team of superheroes was already on the way home.”

“We are Baby Girl. I need you to do a favor for me, as soon as possible.”

“Name it.”

“I need you to get out to Potomac General; look up a Nurse Watkins in the Emergency Department…”

“What happened?”

“A…friend of mine from back in Chicago was admitted there. She has no family except for a one year old son, and he’s being looked after in the Pediatric ward for now.”

“She?”

“It’s a girl that I used to know from high school. When I was back home for Christmas, I ran into her, and she has been having some hard times. I had lunch with her so I could find out more. I gave her my card and told her if she was ever able to make it this far I would help her.”

“Alright, my darling. I will call Kevin and have him cover for me until further notice. He sort of owes me a favor anyway.” Even though Derek couldn’t see it, Penelope was brushing her fingernails on her blouse and checking them, as if it was all in a day’s work. Derek smiled thinking about what favor she could possibly hold over Kevin’s head now. She broke up with Kevin back before Thanksgiving; shortly thereafter Derek had finally manned the hell up and asked her out. 

“Thanks Baby Girl. I know it’s gotta be weird, so thank you for not making a big deal out of it.”

“Oh, I’m grilling you when you get back home….I’m not done with you yet. But this is not a conversation that can be had over the phone….and we should have the option of it being private if needs be.”

“Anything you say baby. I’m going to hop off of here and try to get some shut-eye; I have a feeling that I won’t be getting much of it later.”

“Very well my love. And please be careful.”

“Always.”

Derek ended the call and began immediately thinking about who could have done this to Jasmine. Only one person really came to mind….Johnny. Next, his mind drifted to the payback that he would visit on the man once he got his hands on him. Visions of just how he would rip Johnny’s arms off of him, like the wings off of a fly, were what lulled Derek to sleep.   
Hotch had watch Derek ever since he had asked how long it would be before they landed. Something was going on. Hotch was trying not to eaves drop on Derek’s conversation with Garcia, but he couldn’t help but catch something about a friend of his from Chicago being at Potomac General. Why would a friend of his from Chicago be in a hospital in Quantico? Hotch began to run through various scenarios to try to figure out the most plausible explanation. Finally he gave up and decided he could use the spare time to get a little extra rest himself. 

Rossi had kept his eyes on both men. He saw how distressed Morgan was, and he also watched as Hotch kept himself in character trying to put pieces of the puzzle together; Hotch wasn’t fooling anybody. Rossi had also caught part of the conversation. As soon as they landed he was going to look up this Jasmine Stewart. Since she was apparently a friend of Derek’s, she was likely a decent person; but something just didn’t sit right with him. After getting some of his own thoughts in order, Rossi dozed off for the remainder of the flight.


	4. The Sweetest Girl: Chapter 4

Once back at FBI headquarters, Rossi made his way to his office saying he was going to wrap up some final paperwork before signing off for the night. Honestly…he’d finished the last of his paperwork for the case before they ever boarded the plane; he’d left himself time to check it over before he dozed off mid-flight. As soon as the door to his office was shut, he jumped on the computer and began to look up the name Jasmine Stewart in some of the law enforcement databases. It seemed as though she had a lengthy arrest record for solicitation. 

“A hooker? Really?” Rossi thought quietly to himself.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Elsewhere in the BAU, Morgan had gone to his office to call Garcia and find out the latest news on his friend Jasmine; he had plans to go out there later and see her for himself.

“Garcia.”

“Baby Girl, we’re home.”

“Hmmm. Good to know.”

“Have you heard anything about Jasmine? Is she still in surgery?”

“Yes. And, yes. A nurse came out to tell me earlier that Jasmine’s heart stopped earlier and that they were working to get her back on track…I haven’t heard anything since….”

“Don’t worry; I’m coming on out there. Once I find out what I need to know we can go home for the night and get some rest.”

“I don’t like the idea of her being alone in a cold, unfamiliar hospital….”

“I’ll have to see what we can do about that. But, I know I am beat and you don’t usually get a lot of decent sleep when we’re on cases…so you’re probably drained, too.”

“Yeah, a little, to tell the truth.”

“I’ll be there soon baby.”

“You just be careful.”

After making promises that he would do just that, Morgan grabbed his go bag and began making his way out of his office again.   
Hotch and Rossi were both coming from their offices. Hotch let Rossi and Morgan know that he would be heading home to spend some extra time with Jack; they would be getting the next few days off, barring anything horrid happening. 

“Hey Morgan, is it alright if I come out the hospital with you?”

“Who said that’s where I was going?”

Rossi arched an eyebrow at him, ‘Really? I overheard part of your conversation with Garcia on the plane. And you made a mad dash to your office to make the call to her to find out whatever news you were waiting   
for. Can I come with you?”

“Fine. But I’m not waiting all day.” Rossi quickly followed Morgan out of the building and into the parking garage.

“You do know your friend in the hospital is a prostitute, right? Part of what I had overheard was the girl’s name; I was curious…or nosey….and looked her up. She’s been arrested multiple times for….”

“Yes Rossi, I know. When I went back to Chicago for Christmas I saw her. I had gone for a walk around the neighborhood, checking on some of my old pals, checking in on James and his family….Jasmine was hooking in the park across the street from our old school.” 

“What are you thinking Derek?” 

“Why are you questioning me? Look Rossi, I’m not into her that way. It’s just….she’s never had a chance. Her mom was a crack head, her step-father was…is a pedophile…who used to practice on her. In school kids pushed her around, pushed her into lockers, down stairs, etc. Nobody ever seemed to care a thing about her. If teachers ever paid her any attention whatsoever it was just to shake their heads and click their tongues in disapproval of the fact that she was unkempt and smelled and that her clothes were ragged. Even they never bothered to lift a finger to help her.  
I was never cruel to her, but I never bothered to look at her twice either.” 

“What makes you get involved now?”

“She was out there freezing her ass off in a tiny little dress and a threadbare old coat; and her pimp, some ass named Johnny, started beating on her. If I thought that her choice in careers was hers in the least, I wouldn’t care so much. But….she never stood a chance. Nobody has ever tried to help her. And I was part of the problem. I have a chance to do the right thing now. 

And she has a little boy, she named him Michael; he’s only a year old, or at least pretty close to that. She needs help from somebody and it might as well be me.”

“And Garcia is ok with this?”

“Garcia is fine with it. She knows that this thing with Jasmine has nothing to do with a relationship. That girl just needs help that’s all.”

“Ok.’ Rossi raised his hands in defeat as Derek kept driving to the hospital. “What exactly happened that caused Jasmine to be put in the hospital?”

“She had finally taken me up on the offer of help, at least that’s the way it looks. She had come to VA. She was just a town away and had stopped to get some lunch with baby Michael. While she was sitting at the bus   
stop, someone….I guarantee it was Johnny…took a shot at her. The bullet hit her in her abdomen. She never saw it coming. Some bystanders called for the ambulance to get her to the hospital. She was all alone again.”   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The rest of the ride to the hospital was uneventful and quiet. Morgan was nearly lost in thought over what he might find once they got there. Rossi was mainly studying Derek. Once they had parked and made their way to the nurse’s station, flashing their badges. One of the nurses let them know where to meet their colleague, even leading them to where Garcia was sitting.

“Baby Girl, have th…”

“No, not sense the last time I told you about.” She said shaking her head. 

That just wouldn’t do; Derek had to find out what was going on with Jasmine. He made his way back over to the nurse’s station to try to get some answers. 

“Are you family?”

“I’m the closest thing to family she has right now, except for her infant son who just so happens to be in pediatrics right now. Lady, don’t try me….”

“Derek.” Rossi was trying to get his attention to calm him down. “When she came in she would have had his card on her.” He hoped by using a little finesse that the nurse would lighten up a little bit. It seemed to   
work. The nurse made her way back to the operating room to do a check and came back letting them know that the doctor was still trying to close up some internal wounds that were causing some bleeding, that apparently the bullet had done a number on her. She asked Derek if he wanted to go see the baby.

Derek followed another nurse to the pediatric ward and was allowed into the nursery to hold baby Michael. Just like in all of the pictures that Jasmine had showed him of the little boy, he had big, bright blue eyes, a thin layer of dirty blonde hair lightly covering his head….his bangs weren’t quite long enough to hang in his face, they just barely grazed his eyebrows when he arched them as he made faces. When Derek picked him up the baby started blowing raspberries, kicking his legs, and swinging his arms in excitement. 

“Agent Morgan, when she…your friend Jasmine came in….there was a letter with her. It said that if something were to happen to her that she wanted you to take care of the baby. I don’t know if that means find someone to adopt him, or if she intended for you to take the baby for yourself. If you would like you could take him home tonight; if her condition was to take a turn for the worse, if she doesn’t make it, it would be up to you what to do with the child. Hopefully it won’t come to that and she will be able to pull through and take her baby back.” With that the nurse walked away giving Derek a moment to be with the baby. 

Fifteen minutes later, the nurse came back to check on Derek and baby Michael. Derek had to take the baby; there was no way for him not to, it was the least he could do for Jasmine. She might possibly die having tried to get away from life with Johnny to make things better for her son…to give him the life she never had. Derek hadn’t done enough for her when they were kids in school; he had to do whatever it took to make things up to her now.

With the nurse looking expectantly at him, waiting for an answer, Derek let her know he’d take the baby. She allowed him to take the child back out in the waiting room when he went back to sit with Penelope and Rossi. 

They saw him coming back down the hall carrying the bubbly baby boy who was still gurgling and blowing raspberries as he had since Derek first picked him up. Derek sat down setting the baby on his lap; Rossi and Garcia watched as the baby boy started rocking back and forth tugging at his little blue and white striped socks until he pulled one off and became fascinated by watching his own pudgy little toes curl and flex while he clapped his dimpled hands together in excitement. That poor little boy had no idea how precarious life was right now for him.

“Who’s your little friend, Morgan?”

“Jasmine’s baby, Michael. The nurse said that she had a note on her that said that, if anything happened to her, I was to take the baby. I’m going to keep at least long enough to see if she survives.”

“What about after that?” Garcia asked already falling in love with the little guy.

“I don’t know,’ Derek answered honestly, shaking his head. “My life isn’t cut out for a baby. I have a bachelor’s apartment. Until the last few months I played the field….that is until we became involved. I’ve barely   
held a baby very often before.” 

“Oh good grief, Hot Stuff, you’ve got a niece and nephew and a load of little cousins…you’ve been around Jack and Henry enough over the years….”

“It’s different than having a baby that might potentially stay with you indefinitely….”

“I’ll help you sweet cheeks, you won’t have to worry. This little fella doesn’t look like he’d be that much trouble.”

“It’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for.” Rossi said watching the baby.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Finally two hours later, a doctor came out in scrubs that still had streaks of blood on them from hours of surgery. 

“Jasmine Stewart,’ the doctor called seeing three people stand to receive news.

“How is she doc?” Derek had a worried look on his face.

“I’m not going to lie. Her heart stopped a couple of times; we’ve barely been able to stabilize her. We finally stopped the bleeding. She’s definitely not out of the woods yet to say the very least. The next 24-48 hours will tell us a lot. I’ve taken the liberty to put her on life support with the way she’s been scaring us, it seemed like the thing to do. If within the next day or so she can start breathing on her own and she doesn’t go into any further cardiac arrest, we’ll take her off, but not a moment before I’m sure her body can handle it; during this time she is to remain in ICU under strict observation. You will be allowed to see her   
only at short intervals. In all honesty, I’d go home, get some rest. You need to get this little guy situated. You can come back later tonight or early tomorrow and see if there’s any progress.”

Derek only nodded as he looked down at baby Michael. The little boy was leaning over Derek’s arm where it crossed his abdomen. Derek had one hand under the little boy’s bottom to support him. As Michael leaned over he began to reach for his toes again, sticking his little tongue out at the effort, a little dimple showing up in his left cheek; he let out a dissatisfied grunt when he couldn’t reach the toes he wanted to be able to pull them up to his mouth, his little arms and legs flailing in frustration.

“Come on Derek, let’s get everybody home. We can stop by the store and grab some food and a few things for the baby just to get us through the night….Garcia, we’re going to need something delivered.” 

“Thai it is then.” She grinned as she picked up her cell phone, the rolling of Rossi’s eyes making her giggle. In reality she was calling Puccio’s, she knew Rossi would prefer Italian, and sense he was trying to do what he could to help Derek right now, she would give in to him, just this once.

Before leaving the hospital Derek was given the carrier and small diaper bag that Michael had arrived with by the nurse that had been taking care of Michael before he came for him; it had a few diapers, a couple small bottles, some pacifiers….just something to help him until he could get to the store and get some of his own supplies. He thanked her as she placed a small kiss on the baby’s forehead asking Derek to take care of the pudgy little baby. She commented that she had never seen such a happy well behaved baby, at least not considering the circumstances. Jasmine must have bent over backwards to give this kid everything she could to make sure he stayed that way. 

“Wait….” Morgan seemed to have a thought.

“What is it Hot Stuff?”

“I don’t know if she should be alone right now.” 

“Oh sir, due to the condition she’s in and the fact we’ve got her pretty well doped up, she’ll be sleeping for quite some time.” the nurse was able to quickly interject. Rossi thanked the young woman and watched her carefully turn to walk away….

‘Not too bad…’ the old dog thought to himself.

“That’s not what I’m talking about…’ Morgan was starting to take a frustrated tone, that wasn’t good; he’d get worked up and start punching walls. 

“What is it Morgan?” 

“Rossi the bastard that shot her is still out there running free. Unless he thinks for one second that he actually killed her, he might come back and try to finish the job.”

“He makes a point, sir.” Garcia would take Morgan’s side come hell or high water. But, in this instance, the young man was right. 

“Fine. You drive. Garcia, sit in the back with the baby. I’ll make a couple of calls and arrange to have her room guarded until we get to the bottom of this.”

With that Rossi grabbed his phone and began making those calls. One of the first calls he made was to his cousin Gino. Although Gino wasn’t exactly on the same side of the law as Rossi he knew where they could   
get some decent guys to sit on the door to Jasmine’s hospital room until further arrangements could be made...  
Seeing Rossi hang up the call with his cousin, “Rossi, what is it that your cousin does exactly?”

“Uhhh, import/export….a little security on the side.”

“That doesn’t sound shady at all.”

Rossi shrugged as he scratched his beard, ‘Semantics.”

While they talked, both men could hear Garcia in the back playing with little Michael, poking him in his sides, making him giggle and burble when it tickled, covering her eyes for a bit of hide-and-seek. They could hear her chuckle when he would do his best to hide his eyes, peeking through his pudgy little fingers, or leaning his head against the carrier as if he was trying to hide is face behind the side that curved around his head. Rossi and Morgan got a good laugh when they heard him get very vocal, laughing out loud, from his little tummy at something crazy that Garcia was doing; that bubbly baby laugh reverberating off of the insides of the SUV. Michael was so excited he started grabbing one of his feet with one hand while chewing on the fingertips of his free hand while he laughed and rocked in the carrier. 

They stopped at the mall first to pick up a little baby gear. They decided to get a portable crib at least for the time being, without knowing what baby Michael’s circumstances were going to be long term, it would do the trick for the next couple of weeks anyway. They grabbed a couple bags of diapers, a few new outfits, some new infant sized shoes….there was this little baby GQ looking outfit that was to die for, Garcia said that the little man had to have it, that it brought out the blue in his eyes. If Morgan didn’t know better he was sure that Garcia was going to take a couple of pictures of little Michael in the suit for Jasmine to have when she got better. 

“It seems like every mama wants her son to dress up at least once in their lives. This may be the only shot Jasmine has at it….Michael seems like he might be a handful later.” Garcia winked at the others. She didn’t need to say that Jasmine might not make it to see him when he’s grown and wearing one. 

They grabbed a few baby toys as well; Rossi damn near bought two of everything for the little boy; seems as though he was getting carried away playing the doting grandfather role. But, Morgan and Garcia knew that would happen when Rossi was holding him up and Michael grabbed for his nose; when Michael reached for Rossi’s nose, Rossi let out a pretend sound like a dog that was going to get him….little Michael pulled his hands back quickly shoving his little fingers into his mouth as he squealed with delight, kicking his legs. After making the little boy laugh at his antics, Rossi promptly went on a shopping spree. 

After loading the SUV down with the gear, they managed to make it to the grocery store. They grabbed multiple jars of baby food of massive varieties; Morgan wasn’t sure what the baby would like or wouldn’t like or what he might be allergic to and the only person that knew any of that wasn’t able to tell him anything yet.

“Wait, Morgan. Check the diaper bag.” Garcia stopped the buggy and started rifling through the bag.

“What are you doing Baby Girl?” 

“Well if she thought enough ahead to leave them a note as to what to do with Michael’s care while she was hurt, she might have left a note about what sort of food he will or won’t eat. Eureka!”   
Garcia held up a piece of paper addressed to Morgan. 

‘Michael will eat most anything you put in front of him. He doesn’t care for peas much, unless you have the green ones like adults eat and mash them with your fork…the baby food version won’t get very far with him. Don’t give him spaghetti unless you really don’t mind cleaning your kitchen….he will wind up wearing most of the sauce….I think he’s a budding Avant Garde artist. He’ll eat pretty much any kind of fruit, except he hates apples or anything to do with apples, so save your money on applesauce, although you won’t have to worry about washing it out of your hair. It’s lucky that he doesn’t seem to have a food allergy that I’m aware of. He hates raisins…once he gets used to the tartness, lemons are ok, too. He likes limes. Sometimes I put lemons or limes into the blender just like the rest of his food, just to mash it up enough that it’s easy for him to eat. He likes strawberries and blackberries….although he doesn’t get blackberries a lot because I have to strain them to make sure I get the seeds out so he won’t choke on them. But the grocery store sometimes sells the seedless kind that is in the freezer section, those will work just as well. He can’t cope with raspberries or cranberries, they send him into a tail spin…he will pitch a total fit over them. Oranges are ok, peaches…..Most everything goes through the blender at least for a minute to make it easier for him to eat and less likely to choke on it. Otherwise, he will eat pretty much anything…..’  
It left off there as if she had been in thought but never had the chance to finish the sentence. 

“Well at least you know there aren’t a lot of limitations on what he can or will eat.” Garcia said thoughtfully.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
While Garcia, Rossi, and Morgan were off playing fairy God-parents to baby Michael a man dressed in a pair of black slacks, black dress shoes, and a white lab coat made his way into Jasmine’s room holding a clip-board for further authenticity. Once in the room he wedged the door shut and made his way over to the bed. Quickly he ripped the tubes of the machines away from Jasmine’s body, pulling the breathing mask away from her face and grabbing a pillow. Placing the pillow over her face, he began holding it down. There was no way for Jasmine to fight back; she had never regained consciousness from surgery.


	5. The Sweetest Girl: Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reid becomes a night in shining armor.

After Rossi hung up the phone with his cousin, he informed Derek that it would close to an hour before he could have any help to the hospital for them. For Derek, that just wouldn’t do.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Spencer Reid was wandering the halls of the hospital. Derek had phoned him maybe fifteen minutes earlier and asked him to go sit with Jasmine until he could get back; Derek didn’t like the idea of leaving her totally alone knowing that the psycho who shot her was still on the loose. So, Spencer quietly made his way to the nurse’s desk and showed his badge, and let them know that he was to check in on the patient. The nurse had been told by the other agents that they would have a colleague stop by, so she directed the young man on exactly where to go.   
When Spencer arrived at the appointed room he saw that the door was shut; at first he hadn’t thought much of it, because he saw a doctor in there checking…..On a closer look, Spencer was able to make out that this person, whether he was a doctor or not, was holding a pillow over this girl’s face. He tried the door knob….the door was jammed. 

‘What I wouldn’t give for Derek to be here right now…this is really his thing.’ After thinking to himself quickly, Reid took his best shot at kicking in the hospital room door. It might have taken him two kicks, when it would have taken Morgan only one, but Reid got the door open enough that he could get through it. Once he had pushed the chair that held it shut out of the way, he pulled his gun out and aimed it at the man before saying a word.

“FBI, don’t move!” 

The man turned on Reid, swinging around with a gun in his hand, the pillow he had been holding falling to the floor. Before Reid even thought twice, he pulled the trigger, more on instinct than anything else, and was able to put one bullet between the man’s eyes and another in his chest, burying it in his heart. The freshly dead man fell to the floor; nurses, orderlies, and a few doctors came running to see what had caused such a commotion. 

Reid started explaining immediately as the doctors rushed over to Jasmine to check her vitals and get her hooked back up to the monitors and the breathing mask. 

After Reid’s brief explanation to the hospital staff, he grabbed his cell phone and dialed Derek’s number. 

Upon hearing what Reid had to say, Derek did a doughnut in the middle of the street before speeding back to the hospital.

“Hotstuff….baby on board!” Garcia called from the back seat, although, said baby was still laughing at having been jostled around so much.

Rossi looked at Derek, his face had a look of pure venom; it was times like this that Rossi was glad he typically stayed on Derek’s good side….the phrase ‘if looks could kill’ came to his mind.

“Derek, the phone call?” Rossi questioned carefully.

“When you told me how long it would be until you could have help arrive at the hospital, I arrange to have Reid go out there, at least for the time being. He just called to tell me that when he got to Jasmine’s hospital room that the door was jammed shut. He had to kick it in the best way he could. He said he saw a large man holding a pillow over her face. When he called out for the man to stop, he pulled a gun, and Reid nailed   
him twice….he’s dead. But now the doctors are worried about if this has made Jasmine’s condition worse due to the lack of oxygen.”

“Alright. When we get back to the hospital, I will call Hotch. He can either take Garcia and I on out to run the errands or He can sit with Reid watching out for the girl. I’m going to call my cousin and cancel his men. I know this one guy is dead, but we don’t know if it was the same man that shot her or if others will come out of the woodwork….and as thorough as Gino’s men are….” 

“Yeah, if much else happens we need to have all of our i’s dotted and t’s crossed.”

“Exactly.”

By the time they pulled back up to the hospital and could get on the correct floor, the doctor had ordered for Jasmine to have a new room; he had also just finished reattaching the tubes for Jasmines machines and checking her vitals, making sure she was stable. Once Derek saw that Reid was by her bedside, not moving an inch, he made his way to her previous hospital room to see for himself the fallout of Reid’s handy work.   
Garcia had stayed in the waiting room with baby Michael, making sure he didn’t catch a whiff of something being wrong.

“Is that him?” Rossi asked Derek quietly. 

Derek had knelt over the body to get a good look, ‘Yeah. That’s that sorry son of a bitch….Johnny. He’s the one I saw beating the shit out of her that day at the park in Chicago.”

“When she wakes up she will be ecstatic to know that it’s over.”

“If she….”

“She will wake up. If she was strong enough to live through the hell of what the kids at school did to her every day, live the life of a prostitute, raise a baby with no idea of what a real parent is supposed to be, be   
raised by a drug addict, etc….you think a bullet is going to stop this girl?” 

Derek just shook his head and began walking out of the room. He made his way back down the hall to Jasmine’s new room, looking through the window on the door….

“The kids gave her so much shit in school. Almost as much as they gave Pretty Boy…I mean they never tied her to a goal post stark naked, but only because the thought didn’t cross their minds. But she was so smart   
Rossi. I never understood how she could be. Her mother never took any notice of her, she was always stoned out of her mind on something, and she probably gave birth to Jazz while she was high as a kite. And,   
that bastard, Bruce….her step-father….I only recall bumping into him a few times around town. I always got a shitty vibe off of him. I never knew how bad he was, even though I had caught him watching her a little too intently, I had never managed to figure it out. If I had known, I would have strangled him with my bare hands. I will admit there were times she came to school with bruises around her neck that looked like hand prints or large bruises on her face that looked like she had been punched in the face…..” Derek ended as if a thought had just occurred to him. 

“You want me to have Garcia look Jasmine’s step-father up and see if he’s in jail or wherever?”

Derek could only nod in agreement as he watched through the window as Reid watched over Jasmine. Derek couldn’t help but smile. Even though Jasmine wasn’t a genius, she was intelligent in her own right. In a lot of ways she and Reid were a lot alike. Reid’s mom had schizophrenia and wasn’t there for Reid a lot while he grew up; she still loved him as any mother would love a son, but she was often rendered incapable of taking care of either herself or her son, Reid had to grow up so fast and take care of them both….his father left the family when he was about 10. Jasmine’s mother was a drug addict that stayed high, odds were that she had been tweaking when she delivered Jasmine…how that girl hadn’t been born with some sort of addiction, as babies of drug addicted mothers often do….that was the only time in Jasmine’s life that God or anybody must have been looking out for her. And Jasmine never knew who her biological father was…but the odds are that he was a junky just like her mother. Neither one of them ever really stood a chance; as far as Jasmine was concerned, throwing herself into books, reading, learning….it must have been the only safe place she had. And now, she didn’t even have that. 

Derek smiled even more as he watched Reid fall asleep in the chair facing the hospital bed. Reid really was the best one to watch over Jasmine. Not only did he have dead aim (as evidenced in his earlier efforts), but he knew about all of the medical jargon and the different readings of the machines she was hooked to; if a bell or whistle was to go off, he would know how serious it was in a matter of seconds. 

As he walked back to the waiting room where Rossi and Garcia sat, he had another thought. 

“Hey baby, I was wondering if there was any way that you might be able to track down Jasmine’s birth father.” 

“I can try. Why? What’s up?”

“It may not turn out to be a good idea in the long run. But, I just want to see what or who he is. If he is or was a coke-head like her mother was, or if by chance he was an average guy. If he was a decent person and   
is still alive, I want to see if he’d be interested in getting to know Jazz….he might be the only family she has left, other than Michael. If he turns out to be as bad as her mother and step-father, well then she never has to know we tracked him down or that we tried.”

“Ok. As soon as we get you and Michael settled I will get started on that.”

“Thank you baby.” Derek got settled in a chair beside her, kissing the top of her head as he sat down. After getting situated, he had Garcia pass the baby over to him so the kid could get out of the carrier for a little while and wiggle around a bit. After the little boy played on Morgan’s lap for another twenty minutes or so, he started getting tired, and promptly fell asleep, resting his head against Morgan’s shoulder, his little arm draped around Derek’s neck. Garcia just smiled as Derek in turn rested his head against the wall behind his seat, an arm wrapped around the little pudge in his grasp. 

“So, now that you two….” 

“Rossi, don’t even…”

“What? Pen, I was just wondering….now that you two have finally gotten your shit together, when are you gonna start giving me and Mrs. Morgan some grandkids?”

“Were you and Fran separated at birth or what?”

“Well, I’m cruising into my seventies. I never had any surviving children of my own. Fran is….well Fran, she’s wonderful….and she would be one hell of a grandmother don’t you think?”

“Could you give us a minute to see where this relationship goes…we haven’t been together all that long.”

“According to whose math? How long have you known each other?”

“Awful close to 15 years…pretty close to that anyway.”

“And how long do you thing the two of you have felt this way about each other?”

“He told me when we started going together that he had been stupid in love since the day he called me Gomez.”

“And you?”

“Somewhere around the time he called me Baby Girl for the first time….”

“Then what is your problem? Have babies already…I know you know how that works.”

The banter went on like this for what seemed like forever. Poor Garcia, getting grilled by one of the best profilers in the world about when she was going to start making ‘adopted’ grandchildren for him to spoil, and even going so far as to drag Derek’s mother into the mix when the woman wasn’t even in the room to badger the two of them herself. Derek had the good sense to pretend to still be dozing off. He did not want to be stuck in this vicious cycle as well…..although, there was a good chance that Garcia knew he was faking it, and would be exacting revenge somehow or other later. He could take it. Her revenge on him could turn out to be fun. And it wasn’t that they didn’t want kids….they had only been together a few months; and, even though they loved each other to distraction, they did want to wait and see how the first year of the relationship went and make sure they were on the same page about what they wanted. He thought that having little mocha skinned babies with curly hair and brown eyes that were the perfect combo of himself and Penelope would be the best; especially once they were old enough that you could start seeing their little personalities start showing up. That would be the best ever. They could probably create enough mini versions of themselves to take over the world….at least it would be fun trying.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Two hours later, in room 858, the machines began screaming and a woman who had been previously unresponsive sat up gasping for breath around the tube down her throat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I picked the room number (858) in reference to the hotel room that John Entwistle (Bassist for The Who) died in just prior to the start of their 2002 US tour


End file.
